Genealogy is like a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the box top, so you don't know what the picture is supposed to look like. As you start putting the puzzle together, you realize some pieces are missing, and eventually you figure out that some of the pieces you started with don't actually belong to this puzzle. I'll help you discover the right pieces for your puzzle and assemble them into a picture of your family.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The New York Times of July 22, 2011 published an interesting article on the Van Dusen family in the United States, which began with a Dutch immigrant to Manhattan in the 1620's and now has more than 200,000 far-flung members all over the country. Variations of the name include Van Deusen, Van Deursen, and Van Duzer. Descendants include the famous (Presidents Martin Van Buren and Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and the not-so-famous, and even the president of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. There was even a town named Van Deusenville. Family artifacts mentioned include photos, family Bibles, and a hymnbook from the Civil War. For me, one of the best aspects of this story is that many of these people are in communication with each other in context of being descendants of the same person.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The new Immigrant Heritage Wall at the Angel Island Immigration Station will be dedicated on Saturday, July 23, 2011. The ceremony will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. U.S. Representative Lynn Woolsey will be the keynote speaker for the event. The ceremony will be held outdoors. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for festival seating.

The Immigrant Heritage Wall was created through the donations of more than 600 individuals. More than 350 immigrants are honored on the plaques.

Following the ceremony, cultural programs will take place throughout the afternoon. The Immigration Station will be open for free self-guided tours from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. Food will be available at the Cove Café by Ayala Cove.

Monday, July 18, 2011

The American Jewish Committee San Francisco office and Asian Week Foundation at the American Legion Cathay Post #384 are cosponsoring a free mah jongg event in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 27, from 4:30-8:30 p.m. at the War Memorial Herbst Theater. All levels of mah jongg players are welcome, and teachers will be available to instruct beginners (like me!). Play Chinese and American versions of mah jongg and see The Tiles That Bind, a short documentary with Chinese and Jewish women reminiscing about their mothers playing mah jongg. Sign up on the AJC Web site by 5:00 p.m. on July 22. The event is filling up fast, so don't wait until the last minute. If you are coming with a group, include your friends' names in the notes.

I remember when I saw Driving Miss Daisy and realized that the little old ladies were Jewish when they were all sitting around playing mah jongg. My grandmother used to play mah jongg also. I actually bought a mah jongg set intending to learn so I could play the game with her, but it was one of those things I never got around to. It's too late for that now, but I'll be thinking about her while I learn.

About Me

I am passionate about genealogy. I love researching my own family and everyone else's, and I will talk your ear off about the cool things I have found. I like fitting all the pieces together and figuring out which people belong to which families. I also love to find the stories behind the people and learn as much as I can about why they did what they did. I look at the historical context around the people I research.

I am lucky enough to do what I love for a living. I am a professional genealogist who specializes in
Jewish, forensic, and newspaper research. I am also active as a volunteer in the genealogy community. I edit three genealogy journals: The Galitzianer, focused
on Jewish research in the former Austrian province of Galicia; ZichronNote, journal of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish
Genealogical Society (SFBAJGS); and The Baobab Tree, journal of the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (AAGSNC). I am the vice president and publicity director for SFBAJGS, and a board member of AAGSNC and California State
Genealogical Alliance. I have been on the staff of
the Oakland FamilySearch Library since 2000.

I am a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Council for the Advancement of Forensic Genealogy, Genealogical
Speakers Guild, California Genealogical Society, and Gesher Galicia. Before
becoming a professional genealogist, I worked in publishing for
many years as an editor, indexer, translator, and compositor.

When not involved in genealogy or publishing, I love singing, cooking, needlework, gardening, and painting small miniatures. Way back when, I was in the USC Marching Band for five years (see the bragging rights about the Super Bowl, the World Series, and "The Naked Gun"), one of the best experiences of my life.